Buffalo wings
Encyclopedia
A Buffalo wing, hot wing or wing is a chicken
wing section (drumette or flat) that is traditionally fried unbreaded and then coated in sauce. Classic Buffalo-style chicken wing sauce is composed of a vinegar
-based cayenne pepper
hot sauce
and butter
.
Buffalo wings are traditionally served with celery
sticks and blue cheese dressing
or ranch dressing
.
Buffalo wings were created in Buffalo, New York
. The residents of Buffalo generally refer to them as "wings" or "chicken wings" rather than "Buffalo wings."
hot sauce and melted butter or margarine are the basis of the sauce. Buffalo wing sauce can be made with a variable amount of heat/spiciness, with the names of these sauces generally corresponding to the level of heat, such as mild, medium, or hot. Typically, the wings are deep-fried (although they are sometimes grilled or baked). The wings are usually fried in oil until they reach close to a golden brown color. They are then drained where they can either be placed in a bowl with sauce or even seasoned with salt and pepper. Following this, one covers the bowl tightly and shakes to coat the wings. As an alternative to waiting to coat the wings until after they are cooked, one can also put seasoning over the wings in a sealed bag and shake them until they are coated evenly. Afterwards, the wings are arranged on a baking sheet and baked until they are cooked thoroughly. Wings can then be served dry with sauce on the side.
Buffalo wings are used in competitive eating
events, such as Philadelphia's Wing Bowl
and at the National Buffalo Wing Festival
.
by name. Bryant Gumbel
commented that the chicken wings looked like "drummies". Increasingly, since the 1970s, restaurants were promoting an entree of the thicker first joint of the wing, calling them "chickies" or "drummies", to people who wanted the flavor of traditional "southern fried chicken" in about ten minutes, versus the twenty minutes or more needed to properly fry the thicker breast, thigh, or drumstick portions of a chicken. The dish radically gained prominence nationally after the Buffalo Bills
' four consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl
from 1990-1993 focused considerable media attention to the area for an extended period of time, giving Buffalo cuisine significant nationwide exposure. Clips showing cooks preparing the dish continues to be featured on nationally televised sporting events involving the Buffalo Bills
and to a lesser extent the Buffalo Sabres
.
The Travel Channel
show Food Wars
held a competition between Anchor Bar and local Buffalo rival Duff's Famous Wings. Duff's narrowly won, with Duff's wings considered to be spicier, while Anchor Bar's was meatier and fried more well-done.
In "Tailgate Warriors with Guy Fieri", Buffalo vs. Chicago, the buffalo team made Buffalo Wings.
, chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken, shrimp
and pizza
that are seasoned with the Buffalo-style sauce or variations of it.
The flavor of Buffalo wings is replicated by a number of dishes. A common variation on the "buffalo" sauce flavor is found in potato chips produced by a number of different companies. Many of these "Buffalo Chips" also incorporate a simulated blue cheese
flavoring to simulate the complete buffalo wing experience.
The Xcel Energy Center
in St. Paul, Minnesota serves a more esoteric take on buffalo-flavored
food products with their "Buffalo Dog" available at concession stands inside the arena. The hot dog
is topped with buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and cole slaw
in a unique combination of North Carolina-style slaw dogs and buffalo wings — neither dish is indigenous to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and despite buffalo wings' ubiquity, slaw dogs are uncommon in the Twin Cities.
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
wing section (drumette or flat) that is traditionally fried unbreaded and then coated in sauce. Classic Buffalo-style chicken wing sauce is composed of a vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
-based cayenne pepper
Cayenne pepper
The cayenne pepper—also known as the Guinea spice,cow-horn pepper, aleva, bird pepper,or, especially in its powdered form, red pepper—is a red, hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes and for medicinal purposes. Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivar of Capsicum annuum...
hot sauce
Hot sauce
Hot sauce, chili sauce or pepper sauce refers to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients.-Ingredients:There are many recipes for hot sauces - the common ingredient being any kind of peppers. A group of chemicals called capsaicinoids are responsible for the heat in chili peppers...
and butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
.
Buffalo wings are traditionally served with celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
sticks and blue cheese dressing
Blue cheese dressing
Blue cheese dressing is a popular salad dressing and dip in the United States. It is usually made of some combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt, blue cheese, milk, vinegar, onion powder, and garlic powder. There is a blue cheese vinaigrette that consists of salad oil, blue cheese, vinegar,...
or ranch dressing
Ranch dressing
Ranch dressing is a condiment made of some combination of buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, mayonnaise, minced green onion, garlic powder, and other seasonings mixed into a sauce. Ranch dressing has been the best-selling salad dressing in the United States since 1992, when it overtook Italian dressing...
.
Buffalo wings were created in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. The residents of Buffalo generally refer to them as "wings" or "chicken wings" rather than "Buffalo wings."
Preparation
Cayenne pepperCayenne pepper
The cayenne pepper—also known as the Guinea spice,cow-horn pepper, aleva, bird pepper,or, especially in its powdered form, red pepper—is a red, hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes and for medicinal purposes. Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivar of Capsicum annuum...
hot sauce and melted butter or margarine are the basis of the sauce. Buffalo wing sauce can be made with a variable amount of heat/spiciness, with the names of these sauces generally corresponding to the level of heat, such as mild, medium, or hot. Typically, the wings are deep-fried (although they are sometimes grilled or baked). The wings are usually fried in oil until they reach close to a golden brown color. They are then drained where they can either be placed in a bowl with sauce or even seasoned with salt and pepper. Following this, one covers the bowl tightly and shakes to coat the wings. As an alternative to waiting to coat the wings until after they are cooked, one can also put seasoning over the wings in a sealed bag and shake them until they are coated evenly. Afterwards, the wings are arranged on a baking sheet and baked until they are cooked thoroughly. Wings can then be served dry with sauce on the side.
History
There are four different legends about how Buffalo wings came to be.- The first story is that Buffalo wings were first prepared at the Anchor BarAnchor BarAnchor Bar is a restaurant located in Buffalo, New York which was the birthplace of spicy chicken wings, known outside the Buffalo area as Buffalo wings. The restaurant was initially established in 1935. Teressa Bellissimo is credited with the creation of the dish when she deep-fried some wings and...
by Teressa Bellissimo, who owned the bar along with her husband Frank. Upon the unannounced, late-night arrival of their son, Dominic, with several of his friends from college, Teressa needed a fast and easy snack to present to her hungry guests. It was then that she came up with the idea of deep fryingDeep fryingDeep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used....
chicken wings (normally thrown away or reserved for stock) and tossing them in cayenne hot sauce.
- A second version, as told by Dominic Bellissimo (Frank and Teressa's son) to The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
reporter Calvin TrillinCalvin TrillinCalvin Marshall Trillin is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist.-Biography:Trillin attended public schools in Kansas City and went on to Yale University, where he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News and was a member of Scroll and Key before graduating...
in 1980, stated: "It was Friday night in the bar and since people were buying a lot of drinks he wanted to do something nice for them at midnight when the mostly CatholicCatholicThe word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
patrons would be able to eat meat again." He stated that it was his mother, Teressa, who came up with the idea of chicken wings.
- The third version of the origin involved a mis-delivery of wings instead of backBack- People :* Adam Back, British cryptographer* Charles Back, South African winemaker* Chris Back , Australian politician* Ernst Emil Alexander Back , German physicist* Frédéric Back , Canadian animator...
s and neckNeckThe neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The adjective signifying "of the neck" is cervical .-Boner anatomy: The cervical spine:The cervical portion of the human spine comprises seven boney...
s for making the bar's spaghettiSpaghettiSpaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...
sauce. Faced with this unexpected resource, Frank Bellissimo says that he asked Teressa to do something with them.
- The fourth version has nothing to do with the Bellissimos or the Anchor BarAnchor BarAnchor Bar is a restaurant located in Buffalo, New York which was the birthplace of spicy chicken wings, known outside the Buffalo area as Buffalo wings. The restaurant was initially established in 1935. Teressa Bellissimo is credited with the creation of the dish when she deep-fried some wings and...
. Calvin Trillin stated in his 1980 New Yorker article that a man named John Young also claimed credit for serving chicken wings in a special "mambo sauce". Chicken wings in mambo sauceMumbo sauceMumbo sauce or mambo sauce is a condiment found in Chinese carryout restaurants in Washington DC. The red sauce is similar to a barbecue sauce but sweet and tangy, the sauce is put on chicken wings, french fries, and fried rice. Its origin and ingredients are subject to great dispute...
became the specialty at his Buffalo restaurant in the mid-1960s. Young had registered the name of his restaurantRestaurantA restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
, John Young's Wings 'n Things, at the county courthouseCourthouseA courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
before leaving Buffalo in 1970.
Buffalo wings are used in competitive eating
Competitive eating
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport in which participants compete against each other to consume large quantities of food in a short time period. Contests are typically less than 15 minutes in length, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner...
events, such as Philadelphia's Wing Bowl
Wing Bowl
Wing Bowl is an annual eating contest founded in 1993 by Philadelphia talk-radio hosts Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti as a celebration of gluttony. The contest was first broadcast on WIP ....
and at the National Buffalo Wing Festival
National Buffalo Wing Festival
National Buffalo Wing Festival is a weekend festival held at Coca-Cola Field in downtown Buffalo, New York celebrating the Buffalo style chicken wing. The festival is held on Labor Day weekend and culminates with the IFOCE sanctioned Buffalo Wing eating contest....
.
Buffalo wings on television
The first mention of Buffalo wings on national television may have been on NBC's Today show in the 1980s. Teressa Bellissimo cooked a batch before the camera, and mentioned that she was using a certain brand of hot sauceHot sauce
Hot sauce, chili sauce or pepper sauce refers to any spicy sauce made from chili peppers and other ingredients.-Ingredients:There are many recipes for hot sauces - the common ingredient being any kind of peppers. A group of chemicals called capsaicinoids are responsible for the heat in chili peppers...
by name. Bryant Gumbel
Bryant Gumbel
Bryant Charles Gumbel is an American television journalist and sportscaster. He is best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's The Today Show. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel.-Early life:...
commented that the chicken wings looked like "drummies". Increasingly, since the 1970s, restaurants were promoting an entree of the thicker first joint of the wing, calling them "chickies" or "drummies", to people who wanted the flavor of traditional "southern fried chicken" in about ten minutes, versus the twenty minutes or more needed to properly fry the thicker breast, thigh, or drumstick portions of a chicken. The dish radically gained prominence nationally after the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
' four consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
from 1990-1993 focused considerable media attention to the area for an extended period of time, giving Buffalo cuisine significant nationwide exposure. Clips showing cooks preparing the dish continues to be featured on nationally televised sporting events involving the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and to a lesser extent the Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
.
The Travel Channel
Travel Channel
The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...
show Food Wars
Food Wars
Food Wars is a weekly Travel Channel series hosted by Camille Ford that debuted on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. The show features restaurant rivalries in cities around the United States, with loyal fans cheering for one of two restaurants that serve one of the city's signature dishes...
held a competition between Anchor Bar and local Buffalo rival Duff's Famous Wings. Duff's narrowly won, with Duff's wings considered to be spicier, while Anchor Bar's was meatier and fried more well-done.
In "Tailgate Warriors with Guy Fieri", Buffalo vs. Chicago, the buffalo team made Buffalo Wings.
Variations
The appellation "Buffalo" is also now commonly applied to foods other than wings, including chicken fingersChicken fingers
Chicken fingers are deep-fried strips of chicken meat that do not include any bones or skin....
, chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
and pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
that are seasoned with the Buffalo-style sauce or variations of it.
The flavor of Buffalo wings is replicated by a number of dishes. A common variation on the "buffalo" sauce flavor is found in potato chips produced by a number of different companies. Many of these "Buffalo Chips" also incorporate a simulated blue cheese
Blue cheese dressing
Blue cheese dressing is a popular salad dressing and dip in the United States. It is usually made of some combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt, blue cheese, milk, vinegar, onion powder, and garlic powder. There is a blue cheese vinaigrette that consists of salad oil, blue cheese, vinegar,...
flavoring to simulate the complete buffalo wing experience.
The Xcel Energy Center
Xcel Energy Center
The Xcel Energy Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is named for its locally-based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy. With an official capacity of 18,064, the arena has four spectator levels: one suite level and three general seating levels. The arena is owned by the...
in St. Paul, Minnesota serves a more esoteric take on buffalo-flavored
food products with their "Buffalo Dog" available at concession stands inside the arena. The hot dog
Hot dog
A hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced bun. It is very often garnished with mustard, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, relish and/or sauerkraut.-History:...
is topped with buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and cole slaw
Cole Slaw
Cole Slaw is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Argo label in 1964 and performed by Donaldson with Herman Foster, Earl May, Bruno Carr, and Ray Barretto.The album was awarded 3 stars in an Allmusic review....
in a unique combination of North Carolina-style slaw dogs and buffalo wings — neither dish is indigenous to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and despite buffalo wings' ubiquity, slaw dogs are uncommon in the Twin Cities.
External links
- National Buffalo Wing Festival
- Anchor Bar official website
- On the Wings of a Buffalo from the Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States